Hi, I'm Kenzie
Thanks for being interested in my artwork!
I am a full-time artist and USA Air Force military spouse living in Okinawa, Japan.
I create geometric celebrations of color(s) for confident dream-achievers with stylized spaces so they can re-live, appreciate, and proudly display colors that are meaningful to their lives.
My Story
I have had an equally creative and analytical mind my entire life. Growing up, I loved art class as much as I loved math. In college I graduated with High Distinction, majoring in Business Economics and minoring in Studio Art. I always joke that my Art minor kept me motivated and sane. But there is truth in that joke, art has always been a form of meditation for me. When I create, I experience flow.
Through a few eye exams over the years, I discovered that I have better than perfect hue differentiation. Which simply means I see more colors in-between two colors than the average human does. This makes sense to me, as I have loved color since I was a child. I am still as obsessed with purple as I was in kindergarten when my mom let me have royal purple plush carpet, painted lavender walls, and a strip of purple-fairies-playing-in-an-enchanted-forest wallpaper around the perimeter of my bedroom. That bedroom felt like magic. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to appreciate other colors too. These appreciations were fostered by my time exploring Earth and encountering these colors in nature.
I have always had an eye for noticing, admiring, and appreciating beauty. This led me to develop a deep love for the outdoors, where I can abundantly see Earth’s beauty on grand display. I love when I am skiing, hiking, or paddleboarding, and the vista in front of me takes my breath away. I sometimes lose myself in those moments, in the most beautiful way, like an out of body experience where I forget who I am for a moment. I become one with the Earth:
The dancing shades of peach reflecting off snow-burdened trees as the winter sun sets in Idaho’s bitterroot mountain range.
The teals of the Mediterranean sea on a warm July day, tasting sea spray in the wind.
The juxtaposition of rust leaves speckled on a blanket of olive moss when Kyoto’s sacred forests accept fall has arrived.
The awesome, terrifying slate blues of an angry Pacific Northwest Ocean on a foggy day.
These moments in my life, some of my most precious, tender, and dear memories, were made through beautiful compilations of color. Literally everything around us is color (or lack thereof). I strive to make paintings that help people feel the emotions of their own meaningful moments, through color celebrated on canvas.
About 5 years ago, I decided to try to capture the joy of one of my favorite color palettes into a single painting. I followed a “pattern” I created, so that the colors themselves are what is on display, not necessarily the structure/design of the painting. I used my analytical brain, my admiration of color, and I discovered an engaging style of painting that helps entice the emotions I felt when those colors played in my eyes in real time, in real life. The painting was titled Purple Mountains Majesty. It was inspired by a moment exploring the Bitterroot Mountains, watching endless rows of dyed mountain peaks as the day entered dusk. The same sight earlier that day was filled with red/brown tree trucks, deep green pine needles, and dusty tan/grey rock faces. But once the sun disappeared from view, the greens, browns, and tans morphed into lilac, dusty rose, and calamine.
I like to think my clients experience my paintings in similar ways, maybe even without realizing the exact moment they are taken to. By association, their mind subconsciously creates the feeling.
To my pleasure and surprise, I learned that my art resonated with people other than just me. No one has really seen anything quite like my art. It pulls them in. They are drawn to it when it’s in the same room as them. Requests from family and friends to make paintings with their favorite colors began rolling in not long after I had discovered my craft. A few of my favorite client stories are:
I have a client with a drop dead gorgeous mid-century modern home. Him and his girlfriend love to fly around the world to scuba dive any chance they get. They fell for my aquamarine painting that grows to nearly black in the center. I like to think when they look at this painting, they get the same sense of adventurous peace as when they are surrounded by water, deep in tropical seas.
One of my other favorite clients was a tattoo artist. She shared a beautiful story with me, the one of how she found her calling to create permanent art on people's bodies. Before tattoos she struggled with her own body’s image, until she began covering her skin with art. Those stretch marks she was embarrassed of were now transformed into something she was proud to display. Her self-love grew with every tattoo she added to her body’s collection, until she decided she wanted to help others feel this way too. When she began apprenticing, her favorite colors to incorporate into her designs were yellow, orange, and teal. It was my honor to make her a kaleidoscopic painting displaying the colors that celebrated her calling. The colors that inspired enough joy to motivate her to endlessly create, are now proudly displayed on canvas in her gorgeous tattoo studio.
When I’m not painting for clients (which is rare, I am blessed to have a backlog of projects), I love to challenge myself to create one large painting inspired by the Pantone Color of the year. I’ve been doing this since 2020, and I hope I never stop. I love to imagine the home where these paintings will end up. For 2023, the color of the year was Viva Magenta. That year I was living in Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa is a sub-tropical island south of the main islands of Japan. Due to the difference in climate, the cherry blossom season in Okinawa comes in the “winter” months of Jan-March. The blossoms there are a vivid, deep hue of pink, unlike mainland Japan’s white and blush blooms. I hope this painting finds its way into the heart of someone who loves Okinawa with every fiber of their being, and who isn’t afraid to incorporate bold color in their home. Regardless of what the color of the year is, I seek that color in nature. From that discovery, I draw my inspiration and excitement to make that specific color celebration come to life.
My Materials
I have tested many different paints, tapes, gessoes, and varnish, and I’ve really narrowed down my favorites. I have a specific brand of acrylic paints I am loyal to. They have strong pigmentation, the perfect amount of body, and they are durable. Green Frog Tape is the best painter’s tape on the planet, you’ll never change my mind. And high gloss varnish is the only finishing touch that does the colors in my paintings justice (even if that super shiny top coat makes my paintings very hard to photograph, it’s worth it).
If I Ever Get Famous..
I hope that future historians would infer the following when analyzing my art as it relates to the state of the world:
Kenzie Hall's art encapsulates stability, simple beauty, and is compelling in a time in history where the world/economy are unstable, the simple beauties of the Earth are dying, and as a species we are more compelled by screens than the miracles that surround us. Miracles as simple as the ability to see color.
That’s My Story
That’s why I started to create, currently create, and will continue to create. I am honored to create geometric celebrations of color(s) for confident dream-achievers with stylized homes so they can re-live, appreciate, and proudly display colors that are meaningful to their lives.